Episode Transcript
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Roads in the Gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffis. It is the fourth Sunday of Lent and we are swiftly marching toward Easter. What a beautiful time of year and what a beautiful group of people that I get to worship with. Thank you for being here every week to listen. Even though we don't see each other face to face, I still feel your love and care through your prayers and our time together. Let us come together now in a time of worship. The Lord be with you and also with you. Today's lesson is from the epistle. We are in the second letter to their Corinthians. We are in the fifth chapter verses 16 through 21. We are now the Word of the Lord. From now on, therefore we regard no one from a human point of view. Even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. Look, new things have come into being. All this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has been in Christ given us to the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. We are ambassadors of Christ. Since God is making His appeal through us, we entreat you on behalf of Christ. We reconciled to God. For our say, God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. The Word of God for us, the people of God. Thanks be to God. Let us come together today and recite those words that are the tenets of our faith. Friends, what do we believe? I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and married. The third day He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and siteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence, He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let us pray, dear Lord, we come to You today. So thankful for the beauty of the spring, for the dogwood blossoms, for the beariness that is turning to joy and brightness and colorful love. Be with us as we continue our journey through Lent to Easter, that we may be excited with the anticipation of your risen Son, our Savior. Here now as we pray the words that He taught us to pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Today's Gospel lesson is from the 15th chapter of Luke. The whole chapter 15 of Luke is about fun and things that are lost. And today's verses are very familiar. It's the parable of the returning Son, the prodigal Son, the lost and found Son. But today as we read it, let's think about it from the Father's perspective. So here at now with fresh ears, I will be reading Luke chapter 15 verses 1 through 3s in introduction. And then I will move on to 11b through 32, which is the prodigal Son parable. Now, all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scrubs were grumbling and saying, this fellow welcomes sinners to eat with them. So he told them this parable. There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me. So he divided his assets between them. A few days later, the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in desolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods of the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired hands have bred enough and to spare. But here I am dying of hunger. I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired hands. So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves quickly, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. He gave the fatted calf and killed it. And he let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and his alive again, he was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate. And his elder son was in the field. And as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, your brother has come. And your father has killed the fatted calf because he has gotten back safe and sound. And then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. The answer to his father listened. For all these years, I've been working like a slave for you. And I'm never disobeyed your command yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I may celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back who has devoured your assets with prostitutes and killed, you killed the fatted calf for him. And the father said to him, son, you are always with me. All that is mine is yours. We had to celebrate in rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life. He was lost and has been found. The word of God for us, the people of God. Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Through Lord this message is full of hope in this Easter time of returning to life and resurrection. Let us reflect on our own Easter moments as we hear the words that I was given. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer, I'm in. I don't run. If you see me running, you better run faster because someone or something is chasing me. Something that is mean and has short teeth or worse. I used to run some. I ran a lot when I was on the Intermural Championship. I found you flag football team in college. You heard that right. I was a champion. But that is about the last time I've truly run anywhere. I tried hard to think of a time that was more recent. But 1999 was probably the last time that happened. So when I was reading this story with fresh eyes, something news stood out to me. I'm not the first person to see it. But I usually read this story and only identify with the older brother. The one that stays home and takes care of things while the younger brother is off looping it up at all. Wait, wait, wait. That's really me and not the scripture. I swear I'm not still better. I am the recovering Martha of the family. And there is a sermon there. It's a good one. But when I've preached before and maybe one at another time that I will preach again. This time I was drawn to verse 20 and the Father, almost like in a movie running toward his lost son with arms open wide, welcoming him home. But while he was still far off, the scripture says his father saw in and was filled with compassion and he ran, put his arms around him and kissed him. He ran. The Father didn't just see him from afar and wait for him to come back home. The Father saw his son was returning and he ran to greet him. This is another story that has so much more meaning when we look at it through a historical lens. In the parable, we know the Father is wealthy because he has many servants and a large inheritance to split between the two boys. He also unsland. As with standing in the community, we see the Father humble and humiliate himself in two different ways for his wayward son. Noblemen of that time wore robes that were to the ground. The more fabric, the more expensive and elaborate the robes. They wore robes that always touched the ground. Their feet were always covered. Servants were the only ones that had robes that were shorter and allowed them to work in the fields and do other labor and run. To run to his son, the Father had to gather his robes and show his feet. He had to become like the servants to show the compassion that he was overflowing with. This act of humility would have been shocking to everyone who witnessed it. It would have been shocking and life-changing for the son that he had lost. I'm sure why it was partly why the older, beautiful brother was outraged by the whole thing. The Father had never done anything so unconventional and out of the ordinary to show the older son his love. The older son, just like the rest of the household, had probably never seen his father's feet. The second way that the Father humbled himself was the actual act of running. An adult male Jew, much like my princess self, never ran. They didn't do that ever. They had a group of servants that would run and fetch anything that they needed. His act of running was beneath someone of his father's station and life. Running was for the common. I love all things royal, especially I love to Queen Elizabeth. She was so stoic and powerful and had a pretty good tearic election. She also had teams of servants to do anything she needed. She had no reason to have to be common and run anywhere. That's one of my favorite videos of her is when she ran after her grandchildren so they didn't get trampled by the horses at San Ericham. It was so out of the ordinary and just like any of the rest of us mere mortals that is actually very endearing. The only people in this world that the Queen of England would ever run after were her grandchildren. That same level of stoicism and civility that Jewish male landowners would have practiced. The act of gathering his robes and running to his youngest son was more shocking than the father telling the servants to slaughter the fatacaf. It was more shocking than when he offers his youngest son who had been sleeping with the pigs, a robe and a ring. The father humbled himself so he could elevate his son. What a picture that paints. It's the same story that we'll hear in just a few weeks about the cross and the tomb. Jesus, much like the prodigal father, allows himself to be humiliated over and over again on the way to the cross. He sacrifices his life and his dignity for all of humankind. And then when we turn from our life of sin, he does just what the father did and he gives us a robe and a ring and welcomes us into the kingdom of God. He made himself like the servants so he could run to us and show us compassion. I love that Jesus uses the word compassion in that verse. He wasn't just filled with joy or love at his son's return. He was filled with compassion. The Greek word used there is splenchesno, splenchnizo, I'm not a Greek scholar. And it means pity or compassion. The word appears 12 times in the New Testament. We see it when Jesus feeds the 4,000. Yes, it's 4,000 in Matthew plus the women and children because they don't count Matthew. That's in chapter 15 of Matthew. It says this, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat and I'm willing to send them away hungry unless they faint on the way. In Luke 10, we see ease in the story of the good Samaritan. It says this, but a Samaritan as he journeyed came to where he was and when we saw him, he had compassion. Either in his actions or in his parables, Jesus showed and calls on us to show this kind of compassion to others. He's calling on us to throw open our arms, gather up our robes and run to meet those who have come to the Kingdom of God. No matter what we have done in the past, no matter how painful our lives have been, no matter what we have done to ourselves, to have to live with the pigs and no matter how many blessings. We have squandered. We are all welcome back the exact same way to the Kingdom of God. While we, much like the younger son, may not feel worthy of forgiveness. And while the older siblings of the world, Mass, self included, may get angry and resent our coming back, Jesus and the rest of the Trinitarian God we love are always and forever filled with compassion for us. They have compassion and mercy for the strength it takes to leave our lives of sin behind and come back to the one who has always been there to show us pity and compassion. The least we can do for our neighbors is have compassion for them. And for our own selves, when we return to the Kingdom, John Wesley called this idea prvenient grace. That grace has covered us from the first moment of our lives. The one that we don't deserve but is always available. It is that compassion and grace that we believe in that we cling to that we are given in the life and death and resurrection of Christ. It is that prvenient grace that is available to us even when we turn and go out and squander our wealth in desolate living. God is always with us. We are never alone. John Wesley also had a brother, Charles or like I call him Chuck who wrote about this idea as well. And one of my favorite hymns, O4,000 tongues to sing. We hear these words in the third and fourth verses. Don't worry, I won't sing them. Jesus. The name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease. To his music and the center's ears, to his life and health and peace. He breaks the power of canceled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the phallus clean. His blood availed from me. The father and the parable did just that for his son. It is the same thing that Jesus does for us. He takes away our sorrows and forgives us of our sins through his compassion. And his blood has set us free. Just like the son upon his return was made clean again the arms of his compassionate father. I like to think that heaven is a little like that too. There may be pearly gates, I don't know, but in mama and the gates are open. And Jesus and all of our ancestors and friends and a host of heavenly angels will be their waiting. I believe that they will gather up their robes and run right to me with open arms. And after not running since 1999, I'm sure that I will be gathering up my robes, strighting my tiara and running right to them as well. But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead. And his come to life. He was lost and has been found. Amen. As we go throughout our week, let us remember that we are all lost. We are all searching for that thing in our lives that will bring us home, that place where we feel love, the arms, where we feel the compassion and kiss of the God that loves us so much. Let us be that place because in life, in death and life beyond death, God is with us. We aren't alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.
